


Computer Virus

by robinstraker



Category: James Bond (Craig movies), James Bond (Movies), James Bond - All Media Types, Skyfall (2012) - Fandom
Genre: Asexual Q, Gen, M/M, MI6 has awesome tech shit, Q is an AI with a body, Robot AU, Sickfic, cyber au, i guess, james looking after Q, robot!Q
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-04-27
Updated: 2014-07-08
Packaged: 2018-01-20 23:50:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,094
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1530287
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/robinstraker/pseuds/robinstraker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>James is told of the real reason why Q is so good at his job, and employed to look after his quartermaster.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Sleep Mode

The current Quartermaster was the most efficient and skilled MI6 had ever had. As much as he had initially doubted the man, James couldn’t help but be impressed. The skinny little thing that he could probably break with a firm handshake had turned out to be the country’s greatest asset. Bond had noticed several major system updates since he’d taken over the role, a reduction in the number of security breaches and far more successful missions. 

 

The boy was quite wonderful, in James’ eyes. A saviour in the field, a friend in the workplace, and not too bad to look at either. James wondered several times what it would be like to hold him, spend time with him because he wanted to, not out of obligation. 

 

Plucking up courage and forcing down the anxiety that he was passed his prime, unattractive and unwanted by the boy-wonder, James made his way down to Q branch with a box of speciality Earl Grey. 

 

“Q, I…” he started as he walked towards him, then trailed off, gaping. Q was paler than he’d seen before, thin and shaking as he worked. He looked beyond tired, almost ill. “Christ, when was the last time you slept?” James asked, perching on the edge of Q’s desk, watching him with concern. “I was going to ask you something but…that can wait. I’m driving you home. Whatever you’re working on now can wait.”

 

Q looked up at that, startled as if he had only just noticed James’ presence. 

“No. I’m fine.” He murmured, voice croaky and strangely blunt, devoid of emotion, monotone. James sighed at that, rolling his eyes. 

“You’re clearly not.” He replied and, with a glance at R, scooped Q up and carried him out of Q branch. He expected kicking and screaming, but Q merely just hung in his arms, half asleep. James sighed and started heading for the car park, before realising he wasn’t too sure where Q lived. He stopped and shook him gently, brushing his hair from his forehead.

“Q?” He called softly, then louder. He frowned, the boy wasn’t even moving. He bowed his head to listen for breathing. Nothing. Worried, he felt for a pulse, wondering if the boy was playing some sick joke. No heartbeat.

 

James cursed and sprinted up to Medical bay, Q hanging limply in his arms.

“I need medics now! Q has no pulse, he isn’t breathing, he was fine just now…” he stammered, handing Q over to a group of medic who hurried over with a trolley. He tried to follow but was blocked by a doctor. 

“Let us work, agent. We will let you know of any updates.” 

James just nodded vaguely. He couldn’t here any defibrillators, or anyone carrying out heart massage…or anything at all, really. It sounded quite calm, in the room Q was in. He sunk into a chair in the corridor, staring at the floor. “They have to try. Please make them try…” he murmured, having lost too many people to bare the thought of losing another.

 

The doctor left, and called M to report what had happened.

 


	2. Restart

M appeared a little while later. He frowned when he saw his best agent, crumbled and broken, in a chair in the corridor.  
“Bond, a word?” He murmured, offering a hand to help him up. Bond blinked at the hand, then slowly stood up of his own accord, pocketing his hands.  
“He was the best we’ve ever had. Ensure the country knows that.” He murmured seriously, eyes glazed with some dark anger.  
“That will not be necessary.” M replied, holding up a hand to stop any arguments from Bond. “Follow me.”

He stepped through to the room James had watched Q brought into some time before. He felt sick as he stared at the pale boy, serene as ever in his lifeless state. His eyes were open, staring up at the ceiling.  
“Close his eyes somebody, for fuck’s sake, does nobody have any respect around here?” James growled, lurching forward to give the boy some sense of respect in his passing.

“Don’t touch me, Bond. You’ll fly across the room and get some rather nasty burns.” Came a calm, monotone voice that made James freeze.  
“Q..you’re…but…” he trailed off, confused. It was only then that he saw the wires attached to him, all over his body. “You were dead…” he breathed. “What is this, what’s going on?” He stared about, confused. “Someone please tell me what’s bloody going on here!” He demanded. Q whimpered at the yell, eyelids fluttering.

M practically manhandled James out of the room and back into the corridor, gesturing for one of the staff to sort Q out.  
“Bond, please calm down. Q is rather fragile in his current state…I suppose I need to tell you. You see, Q was created a couple years ago, as a secret project run by MI6. He’s, in layman’s terms, a robot. He has skin, and hair and all the rest, but it was all grown in a lab, stem cells and such like. He has digestive organs, so he can eat and appear normal, but they are all mechanical, and the food he intakes is supplemented with various medications to keep him healthy. It’s why he’s so thin. He is literally skin and bone, with some wiring and machines thrown in too.” He paused a moment, giving James a moment to take this all in.  
“When he gets tired, the human side of him is the first thing to go. It leaves him well, like he was just now. The computer part of him. That’s why he sounded, well, like a sat nav, just now. He resorted back to what is easy. Sort of like how computers are when they factory reset for whatever reason. For now, he’s, for want of a better word, recharging. This is a large proposal James but, I wonder, with your reduced number of missions now, if you’d look after him. As you said, he’s an asset to this country, and he needs looking after. He doesn’t rest as much as he should. He seems to think that he can keep going and going, but he can’t. So…what do you say?”

James was stunned. He was too old for all this.  
“So you’re telling me that Q is a robot?” He murmured, struggling to take this all in. M sighed and nodded. James ran a hand through his hair. “Right. Of course….fine, why not. But I can’t say for certain I’d be the best influence on him.” 

M looked utterly relieved, and was about to thank him when one of the nurses, who, James realised now, seemed more like a mechanic, came to update them on Q.

“He completely depleted his energy source, hasn’t used his digestion for anything other than tea for several days, and because of this, and his insistence on connecting himself to the server at any opportunity, he contracted a computer virus from someone’s personal laptop. He’s fine, we just updated his antiviral software - he got rid of it, thought it was slowing him down. Is this is new carer?”  
James winced at the term as M nodded.  
“He’ll need charging tonight, and none of the sleep mode rubbish, a proper plugged in shut down. It’s the only way he’ll recover quickly.” The tech informed him. Even though most of this flew right over James’ head, he nodded in agreement.  
“Can uh…can I see him?” James ventured, wanting to talk to Q.  
The tech nodded and let him back in.

As James walked in, he wondered just what he’d gotten himself into.


	3. Designated Identification and Undesignated Components

Q sat on James’ sofa, hands on his lap, looking about with vague interest. From the kitchen, James stared unashamedly, still in shock with the entire situation.  
The kettle boiling startled him out of his thoughts, and, once he had made Q some earl grey, and himself a rather strong coffee, he came and sat beside him, handing him the mug.  
“You’re absolutely fascinating Q, did you know that?” He murmured, sipping his coffee.  
“My mechanics are no more ingenious than your own, Bond. In fact they are less so. I am a synthetic copy.” He replied matter-of-factly.  
James rolled his eyes.  
“Right. Fine. And for christ’s sake, call me James. We are living together now, you know.”  
Q was silent a few moments, then nodded.  
“I would allow you the same courtesy but Q is my sole designated identification.” He sounded slightly melancholy at that. James felt a pang of pain for the boy - he couldn’t stop seeing him as a young boy instead of a machine made to look like one.  
“Would you like a name?” He asked, head tilted a little. Q shrugged.  
“I have no use for one.” He argued practically, though James could read him easily.   
“I’ll think of one.” He promised. Q smiled at that, eyes almost glowing with happiness. James wondered what it was that flowed through him, if it was pure electricity or something more. He couldn’t imagine how anything so technological could feel happiness.   
James smiled back at him, then turned on the television and settled back into the sofa.  
“I was going to ask you out, you know, when I came to see you today.” He murmured, deciding he may as well tell him how he felt.  
“You mean, on a date?” Q confirmed, seeming surprised. James nodded. Q nodded thoughtfully at that, not sure how to process it. “Thank you.” He murmured eventually.   
James chuckled.  
“Well? The offer still stands, if you’re interested…”  
“Bond, I’m…I’m aware that I am not human. I’m unsure whether you realise that yet. I don’t…have the parts.” he murmured, embarrassed.  
James shook his head.  
“I like you for who you are, Q, not for what you are, or what you do or don’t have.” He promised honestly, smiling. He hesitated a moment, then leant forward and kissed him, feeling a slight tingle as he did so - not painful just unexpected. Q seemed to have felt it too, blinking at him in confusion, lifting a hand to touch the spot.   
“I…I don’t…” he murmured, struggling to find words. James hushed him and ran a hand through his hair, massaging his scalp, eliciting a whirring from Q’s chest. James translated that as akin to a cat purring, from the content expression Q wore, and continued, the boy practically lying against him.  
He could, James decided, learn to enjoy this new arrangement.


	4. Recharge

After a long while of electric purring, Q opened his eyes, the bright green now a dimmer shade. 

"Need to charge.." He mumbled, standing up, swaying slightly. He rubbed his eyes and looked around. "Uh, is there um...somewhere I can...?" He gestured vaguely, slightly embarrassed. 

Not really sure what he meant, James nodded.

"Um. Yes. Through there, first door on your left. Spare bedroom. The bathroom is opposite, if you...yeah. And um, there's a socket, two actually. Quite close to the bed." 

Q nodded at that and walked away. James admired him from the sofa, that spindly body, that walking talking wonder, even more wondrous than he could ever have imagined not a day before.

Deciding to wait a while before going to bed, to avoid disturbing Q, James poured himself some whisky and contemplated this new world he had been introduced to.

 

*

 

After a second finger of whisky, James stood and headed to the bathroom. Passing by the spare bedroom, James saw a faint light shining under the door. Guessing Q was sitting up and doing work some how, instead of resting, he walked in, but stood still in the doorway, amazed by what he saw.

Q was fast asleep, lying under the covers, but one arm was stretched out across the other pillow, fingers pointing towards the socket in the wall. A thin, glowing thread of light stretched from the socket to Q's fingers. It was mostly blue, with an amber stretch closer to Q's fingers. James supposed it was visible indication of how much he had charged, much like how his phone  's battery indicator went orange when it was low.

Somewhere in his mind, as he observed this spectacle, James wondered where exactly the light was coming from, if it was Q or the mains supply causing this light show.

Deciding to leave Q to rest, he walked out and slowly shut the door to avoid it slamming, quickly brushing his teeth and flopping on his own bed, soon fast asleep himself.

 


End file.
